Ronald Phillips has been scheduled to die three times. Three times he got a reprieve.

The latest delay came yesterday from U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost, who
extended
Ohio’s moratorium on executions through Jan. 15 next year. Frost’s order postponed Phillips’
execution, set to take place on Sept. 18, plus those of Raymond Tibbetts, 57, of Hamilton County on
Oct. 15, and Gregory Lott, 43, of Cuyahoga County on Nov. 19. They all must be rescheduled by the
Ohio Supreme Court.

Frost’s latest order was prompted by the continuing legal debate over lethal-injection drugs
that have caused problems in executions in Ohio and several other states. In one recent execution
in Oklahoma, two hours passed before the inmate died.

In his order, Frost wrote that the latest delay was needed “in light of the continuing need for
discovery and necessary preparations related to the adoption and implementation of the new
execution protocol.”

McGuire, 53, was observed to repeatedly gasp, choke, clench his fists and struggle against his
restraints for more than 10 minutes after the administration of midazolam, a sedative, and
hydromorphone, a painkiller. McGuire was executed for the murder of 22-year-old Joy Stewart in
1989.

It was the first time those drugs were used in an execution in the United States. The state had
switched to the two drugs for intravenous injection for McGuire’s execution after manufacturers
stopped selling pentobarbital, the single drug used before, for use in executions.

Ohio officials said in April that the new dosage would be 50 milligrams of midazolam (up from 10
milligrams for McGuire), and 50 milligrams of hydromorphone (up from 40 milligrams). A third
syringe containing 60 milligrams of hydromorphone will be ready; other syringes will be prepared
and available “if needed.”

Phillips, 40, was scheduled to be put to death on Nov. 14 last year for the 1993 beating, rape
and murder of 3-year-old Sheila Marie Evans, the daughter of his girlfriend. However, Gov. John
Kasich postponed his execution by seven months to give Phillips the opportunity to make good on his
desire to donate a kidney to his ailing mother. Time ran out before arrangements could be
finalized, and Phillips was then scheduled to die on July 2.

That execution was canceled by Frost’s first moratorium order and moved to Sept. 18. Now, a new
date in 2015 or beyond must be set.

Kevin Werner, executive director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, said he was “relieved that Judge
Frost has postponed further experimental executions in our state, but Ohio needs to get out of the
execution business altogether.”

“At the very least, the reforms recommended by the Supreme Court task force to make the system
more fair and accurate need to be implemented as soon as possible.”

Sen. Edna Brown, a Toledo Democrat and capital-punishment opponent, said her regret about Frost’s
order is that it is “only a stay of Ohio’s continued experimentation in carrying out the death
penalty rather than pronouncing the end of this practice.”